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Journal benad's Journal: The Art of Constructive Criticism

I can't believe I almost started a flame war on VersionTracker.

I was trying to use Haxial TextEdit, when I realized it had an UI so bad it wasn't worth learning. Yes, learning an UI for something functionally equivalent to Windows' Notepad.

So, from 1 to 5 stars rating, I rated it 2:

Terrible UI. If you're going to waste your time learning a non-standard UI, you're better off doing so with Emacs. At least Emacs is worth the steep learning curve.

Well, that was a bit harsh. But I come to think about it, I was saying "make your software worth learning". Like Emacs.

Just for fun, here's what I found in about 5 minutes. I'm talking about version 1.3.

UI problems (no reference whatsoever to any standard or OS):

  • There's this weird menu on the title bar that doesn't make any sense.
  • No visual feedback when you save.
  • No visual feedback when you start modifying the file.
  • File->Close is missing (!).
  • "Save As..." starts always at the "root" (/Volumes), instead of the directory where the file you're saving is.
  • No way to "cancel" the action of the maximize button of a window.
  • Window widgets are activated on mouse down, instead of mouse up, unlike all other buttons.
  • The minization is useless; can't close or save a minimized window without maximizing it again, so you're better off keeping the window "normal".

Missing features (compared to Notepad!!!):

  • Can't deactivate "soft line breaks"; you can't have horizontal scroll bars.
  • Can't print.
  • Can't copy paste!!!!

Got it? Bad. Really bad. Now look at the replies here. You'll be surprised. Oh well...

- Benad

This discussion was created by benad (308052) for no Foes and no Friends' foes, but now has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

The Art of Constructive Criticism

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